Operating in the financial sector comes with unique challenges. One of them is complying with and adapting to industry regulations and the frequent changes they go through. Regulations can change frequently and without notice. Ultimately, regulations serve to protect the public and business entities from any adverse issues related to non-compliance. Failure to comply with changes can result in legal action, fees, and business loss (among other things). Fortunately, there are several tools that can help businesses thrive in this area. Here are five useful tools for regulatory compliance management.
Risk Management Software
Managing risk is a complex and involved endeavor. Every company should have some form of risk management set up and working within their operations. Reporting tools help you measure and improve your compliance initiatives, identify business processes that need improvement, and identify areas of risk and opportunity. They might make up a small percentage of your overall toolset, but they serve a vital function to help mitigate and manage risk throughout the company, especially when it comes to complying with new regulations or standards.
Communication Tools
Communication and collaboration are two essential components of running a business. They are especially important when you’re trying to keep up to date with regulations and compliance. Communicating with your employees, customers, partners, and suppliers is critical to ensure your business is running properly. For your compliance efforts, communication is doubly important. Team members need to be aware of any potential issues as they monitor for compliance and be able to communicate that effectively to other team members and management. By facilitating communication across the entire organization, regtech solutions are a vital component of, rules being updated, procedures being followed, and everyone staying on top of proper training protocols.
Data Breach Prevention Tools
Data breach prevention tools can help protect your business from data breaches. It starts with monitoring. Monitoring tools look at transactions and communication for signs of malicious activity. This might include weird logins, failed login attempts, excessive password changes, or phishing attempts. It will also monitor for suspicious files or data that might be used in a cyberattack or ransomware attack. If the system detects a threat, it can alert you to the problem so you can take action. These systems exist as part of a way to not only protect data and customers but also remain compliant in certain industries. They especially apply to financial Industries or Industries where data regularly transmits from one node to another. These systems also work as a means of prevention by blocking unauthorized access and running regular scans to prevent malicious actors from threatening your company. Think of them as just another tool in your regulatory compliance toolbox that will ultimately help you succeed and protect your data.
Regtech Software
New technology tools come out every day. Fortunately, there are brand new subsets of tools that make regulatory compliance much easier. These tools are known as regtech software. They’re designed specifically to help businesses meet regulatory compliance requirements and needs. They include many of the tools we’ve listed here, including data breach prevention, regtech software, reporting tools, auditing tools, and much more. But more specifically, this type of software automates manual processes and minimizes errors. It also monitors for regulatory changes, notifies companies in real-time of what needs to be changed, addresses enforcement needs/actions, and streamlines basic compliance operations. Regulatory change management systems are an important aspect of any business and can be beneficial for any company regardless of its size.
Workflow Automation Software
Managing a workflow can be troublesome. But the benefits of automating a workflow are tremendous. If you don’t automate things properly or manage to keep meticulous track of everything, then your workflow is going to suffer. This is especially true for regulatory compliance. Imagine you need to get a document approved or rejected by a regulator. What if you need to be up to date by a certain point? How about enforcement actions? What about monitoring and auditing? These are all things that benefit greatly from automation and allow you to perform your company’s work in a much better way. A good regulatory compliance management solution can provide regulatory professionals with a scalable system that can manage all compliance requirements across an entire company. This will track and report issues, identify risks, work in real-time, and track any enforcement actions or approvals/rejections. They can all generate alerts to allow for a smooth and streamlined operation. Businesses are increasingly concerned about regulatory compliance and risk, so managing a workflow appropriately is critical for ensuring your company stays compliant.